Coyotes owner Barroway on not meeting with Shane Doan: ‘I’m sorry’

By Matt Layman | July 13, 2017 at 4:18 pmUPDATED: July 13, 2017 at 5:08 pm

Arizona Coyotes owner Andrew Barroway speaks at a press conference after the team announced the hirings of head coach Rick Tocchet and president and CEO Steve Patterson at Gila River Arena in Glendale, Ariz. on July 13, 2017. (Matt Layman/Arizona Sports)

At the conclusion of the Coyotes’ regular season in April, questions loomed over whether Doan would continue with the team for another season or call it a career.

But in June, the Coyotes made his decision for him.

The team unexpectedly cut ties with Doan when GM John Chayka — who has since been promoted to president of hockey operations — met the veteran forward for breakfast and gave him the news. The Coyotes would not be offering him a contract.

Craig Morgan reported in June that Doan felt team owner Andrew Barroway was behind the decision, and it rubbed some people the wrong way that Barroway neglected to attend the meeting with Doan.

“Well, what happened with Shane, I have to take some responsibility for,” Barroway said Thursday. “Shane’s a bedrock of this community and a pillar of the Valley since we came here. I think we made the right hockey decision with Shane, I’m confident we did, but in retrospect — I should have flown out and met with him myself and told him that.

“And for that, I’m sorry. I apologize to Shane and the fans. I definitely could have done that better.”

The remarks came as the Coyotes were holding a press conference to introduce new hires Steve Patterson (president and CEO) and Rick Tocchet (head coach). Chayka was also there alongside Barroway, who became the sole owner of the franchise this summer after buying out the minority owners.

“With that said, it’s time to move forward,” Barroway said. “We’re trying to build a winning team, not a situation where we put out some players that some of the fans might like and we’re not going to be competitive anyways so who cares.”

Barroway’s multiple allusions to wanting to “build a winning team” and make the “right hockey decision” are corroborated by the acquisitions of center Derek Stepan, goaltender Antti Raanta and defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson.

“We’re here to win now and I think you can see by some of our offseason moves that we’re going to build a team that can compete and compete in the near term,” Barroway said.